Though this article deviates from U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor's typical topic focus, the potential implications on a global scale make it worthy of a link -- S.P.

Feds Want to Track Your DNA Like a License Plate

Just as details are emerging about a controversial, nationwide vehicle-surveillance database, WND has learned the federal government is planning an even more invasive spy program using “physiological signatures” to track down individuals.

The goal of this research is to detect – as well as analyze and categorize – unique traits the government can exploit to “identify, locate and track specific individuals or groups of people.”

According to the program’s statement of objectives, “The scope of human-centered [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or ISR] research spans the complete range of human performance starting at the individual molecular, cellular, genomic level.”

01/25/2014

The number of people identified by the Obama administration as potential terrorists surged in the past two years, and the FBI now is preparing for another spike as it plans to intensify its scrutiny of foreign visitors and U.S. citizens, U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor has discovered.

The federal government will hire up to 116 full-time private-contractor personnel to help amass and screen data on persons whose movements or activities are brought to the attention of the Terrorist Screening Center, an FBI-administered interagency unit.

The federal government, starting from the time Obama took office, in various ways has described returning veterans, conservatives, pro-lifers and those who support a constitutional government as potential terrorists.

And in just recent months, through the revelations of document-leaker Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency has been shown to be spying on virtually every telephone call made in America.

So TSC’s expansion comes at a time of rising skepticism about President Obama’s public pledge to reform the government’s surveillance and information-collection apparatus.

Such plans are specific to communications-intercept and data-gathering activities at the embattled NSA, still under fire in the wake of operational leaks by former contractor Snowden.

TSC lacks authority to independently collect personal data or communications. As a national repository, however, it receives personal information that local, state, federal and international entities submit about “known or suspected terrorists,” or KSTs.

The centralized Terrorist Watchlist – officially known as the Terrorist Screening Database – uses data from the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, the Department of Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

According to a project Statement of Work discovered via routine database research, the screen center is staffed by “officials from multiple agencies, including the FBI, DHS, DOS, Transportation and Security Administration, and the United States Customs and Border Protection.”

The FBI is recruiting contractors capable of working with those federal representatives, filling operations-support slots at the center’s Vienna, Va., facility.

Contractors likewise will fill positions at an unidentified “alternate site.”

Analysts and other personnel hired for this endeavor will assess the validity of data submitted or stored on people “associated with terrorism or terrorist activity,” federal documents show.

Part of the screening process includes removing persons from the list.

Recent and projected escalations of “encounter” activity necessitate the services, the government says.

The Terrorist Screening Operations Center is one such unit experiencing growth in KST “encounters.”

The unit serves as the “focal point for all domestic and international encounters” with potential terrorists. It provides 24-hour availability to partner screening-agencies, according to the contracting document.

“TSOC currently averages approximately 275 requests for service per day, which represents a 27 percent increase over FY2012 and a 70 percent increase over FY2011 levels,” documents show.

“TSOC anticipates encounter volume will continue to increase at a steady pace.”

Unit personnel assist other agencies via the TSDB, the U.S. government’s “sole consolidated watchlist for information used in terrorism screening.”

Following an operations center “positive encounter” with a person suspected of terrorist affiliation, the Terrorist Screening Operations Unit gets involved.

TSOU contributes to the database’s accuracy “by conducting research in several databases when a positive encounter is received.”

The Domestic Engagement unit is tasked with alerting the U.S. Intelligence Community and the U.S Law Enforcement Community to the availability of watch-list services.

Part of DE’s mission is to help intelligence and police agencies “utilize watchlist data and manage encounters with watchlisted persons.”

The Intelligence Unit “serves as the information sharing focal point for the TSC.”

IU analyzes and disseminates intelligence data that the Center collects. It assists both domestic and “foreign partners.”

Annually the unit disseminates “over 1,500 raw and finished intelligence products per year to support executive decision making and the USIC/LEC.”

The Terrorist Review & Examination Unit, or TREX, is tasked with “all watchlisting related matters for the FBI.” TREX also is responsible for the timely sharing of information on “FBI international and domestic terrorism investigations” among watch-listing partner agencies.

The Nominations and Data Integrity Unit, or NDIU, which adds and deletes data, averages about 8,700 record reviews weekly, with each initial review taking about seven minutes.

“NDIU anticipates an annual increase in workload volume averaging 10-15 percent per year,” according to the document.

The unit makes “thorough, accurate, and current additions, modifications, and deletions” to the TSDB.

It accomplishes the tasks through what it calls “biographical information validation,” “derogatory information assessment” and “biometric information identification linkage verification.” The document did not define the terms.

Another unit known as the Visa Review and International Liaison screens and identifies visa applicants against the watchlist. The office daily averages 400 service requests, “with an annual workload increase of 10 percent anticipated.”

Other than acknowledging its location “within the continental United States but outside the Northern Virginia or any other major metropolitan area,” little is offered about the “Alternate Site,” a unit that provides center “with the ability to conduct certain mission functions at a more remote location.”

The document also makes clear that contractor employees hired for center operations are forbidden from representing themselves in the capacity of performing “Inherently Governmental Functions.”

If such employees get in situations “where it may be assumed that he or she is an FBI employee, then the contract employee shall identify himself or herself as a contractor.”

The FBI did not disclose the estimated cost of a contract award.

A similar version of this article originally was published Jan. 20, 2014 via WND.com. Under agreement with the publisher, rights have reverted back to the author, Steve Peacock.

07/26/2013

The deployment of federal drones in and around U.S. shores represents
one of the Obama administration’s next steps in the nation’s expanded
use of unmanned aircraft systems for surveillance purposes.

The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, or ONMS, recently acquired
Puma UAS – a type of drone that the U.S. Navy also uses – for
operations off the coast of Los Angeles.

ONMS now is enlisting contractor support in expanding UAS use in
California, Hawaii, Florida, and Washington state. Vendors experienced
in working with law enforcement and military personnel are needed for
this endeavor, according to a solicitation that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located through
routine database research.

The Puma drones – which are small enough to launch by hand – will be used by ONMS to enforce federal regulations, the document says.

The ONMS drone project will focus on Channel Islands National Marine
Sanctuary located northwest of LA. However, the contractor also will
assist Puma UAS operations at Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument
Midway in Hawaii, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and Olympic
Coast National Marine Sanctuary in Washington.

ONMS operates under the umbrella of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, itself a unit of the U.S. Department of
Commerce.

This initiative comes at a time when the U.S. Army is evaluating
contractor proposals to develop a cadre of trainers in the operation of
drones, specifically in the operation of Puma as well as Raven vehicles.

As this writer via WND reported
in late June, the Army says vendors will help it maintain nearly 1,800
Puma and Raven systems “currently fielded, and alternative medium and
long range systems procured in the future.”

The U.S. Army relies on AV for drones as well. Last year the agency
awarded a contract worth upwards of $66 million for miniature Raven
systems, which share with Puma a common launch and operating platform.

AV recently delivered the latest installment of Raven systems and parts to the Army, and expects to fulfill the remainder of its contract by July 25.

Among other recent domestic drone-related developments:

The construction of a $100 million drone hangar at Ft. Riley, Kan.,
is being planned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The solicitation
said the Army Corps project will focus on the construction of “a
maintenance hangar for three Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) companies.” The document did not disclose which companies were to benefit from this endeavor.

The Army Corps
also plans to build a $25 million, 30,000-square yard airfield at Ft.
Hood, Texas, for UAS deployment. The construction of a drone hangar
facility separately is slated for that location.

The U.S. Air Force awarded a $26 million contract to General Atomics
Aeronautical Systems, Inc., which will conduct research and development
for the agency’s Aircraft Structural Integrity Program. The project,
which the company will carry out at its Poway, Calif., facility, seeks
to make improvements to the MQ-9 Reaper System, which the Air Force
describes as a “larger and more heavily armed than the Predator UAV.”

The creation of air- and underwater-based UAV-launch technologies
is being explored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency,
which on Aug. 5 will meet with industry representatives to discuss what
is known as the “Hydra” R&D project. DARPA’s Tactical Technology
Office will hold the Proposers’ Day event at Johns Hopkins University
Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.

Technological advances in the collection and analysis of
surveillance data and images – particularly that which can be used
aboard drones – are being sought by the Rome, N.Y.-based Air Force
Research Lab, which seeks to fund contractor-led R&D projects in its
Multi-Intelligence Exploitation and Correlation initiative. “Given
current levels of activity, operational requirements, hostile
environments, and resources being heavily tasked, collection systems
will need to be developed for embedding on advanced collection
platforms, such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs),” the AFRL said in
Broad Agency Announcement no. BAA-RIK-12-04.

This article originally was published via WND.com July 21,2013. Under agreement with WND, rights have reveretdd ack to the author, Steve Peacock.

07/23/2013

Steve Peacock from his home office speaking with Denver radio talk-show host Peter Boyles.

Today I was tracked down by Denver radio talk-show host Peter Boyles (710KNUS), who took note of my reporting primarily via WND on the issues of drones -- unmanned aerial systems -- and other forms of electronic surveillance. We spoke for nearly 20 minutes about some of the following articles, while Mr. Boyles also allowed me to briefly pitch my website U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor and talk about my background as a Capitol Hill reporter covering the final years of the Clinton Administration through the start of the George W. Bush Administration.

Many thanks to Mr. Boyles for this amazing opportunity. He expressed a strong desire to have me return as a guest on his show, to which I am very much looking forward. -- S.P.

Obama deploying drones around U.S. -- Contracts show units
to be used to enforce regulations (WND; July 21, 2013)

06/27/2013

While the breadth of NSA’s communications-intercept program only
recently came to light, a review of federal records and news reports
shows that mainstream media largely ignored or overlooked a massive
surveillance-system buildup that started to accelerate in 2006.

Indeed, hundreds of millions of dollars since have been poured into
the very facility in Hawaii from which Edward Snowden, the NSA
whistleblower who exposed the PRISM spying program, had removed
classified documents while working as a government contractor.

Even a full year after that breaking story, when some media finally began reporting on the project, The Peacock Report raised the question of why so-called news organizations were soft-pedaling the global surveillance issue (See: “Media Miss NSA Angle on Navy ‘Telecom’ Project in Hawaii”).

05/31/2012

The U.S. Department of State is banking on Internet-trawling software to help it identify references to departmental activities in social media as well as traditional online-media sources. This week it renewed three 90-day site-licenses for the technology, awarding a $35,000 contract to Riva Solutions, Inc., to use Sysomos social media analytics technology.

redefining social media analytics with a powerful product suite that provides customers with the tools to measure, monitor, understand and engage with the social media landscape. Sysomos provides instant access to all social media conversations from blogs, social networks and micro-blogging services to forums, video sites and media sources.

The four "key steps of the Sysomos methodology," according to the company website, are:

Data collection: "Conversations happening in social and traditional media are continuously collected, and cleaned of spam."

08/10/2011

A privately contracted, five-year global counterdrug program valued upwards of $15 billion is one year away from expiring—and the U.S. Dept. of Defense (DoD) wants to assess the capabilities of potential prime contractors in advance of the August 23, 2012, expiration date.

The DoD Counter Narco-Terrorism Program Office (CNTPO) on Aug. 2 issued a Special Notice (Solicitation # W9113MCNTPO) announcing its intentions to “issue a follow-on procurement” to perpetuate that endeavor.

Though it is not yet seeking proposals, the CNTPO made clear it will award a MAIDIQ follow-on contract to unspecified vendors in the future. In the meantime, it is accepting “capability statements” from qualified companies. The anticipated acquisition, as was the case in the prior contract vehicle, will be for: “critical services and procurements” in support of the CNTPO mission to:

The embedded links in the above summary offer documents that detail specific projects anticipated under the MAIDIQ follow-on contract, most of which are planned for Afghanistan, Colombia, and Pakistan.These endeavors involve various DoD combatant commands, the Drug Enforcement Administration, client-nation law enforcement and military organizations, and other U.S. federal entities.

Separately, back in November the CNTPO announced that it intended to award a no-bid contract to The Rendon Group to perform "Public Communications Support and Facilitation" services specific to CNTPO operations within the U.S. Southern Command and the U.S. Central Command areas of responsibility. Those services largely were targeted toward helping the governments of Pakistan and Colombia to communicate with the news media and to develop national and international support for U.S.-led counterdrug operations in those nations.

Specific to Pakistan, the objective for the The Rendon Group was to:

(a) provide training and support to the Pakistan Government to increase their capability to use public communications as a means of building national and international support for counterdrug and related initiatives; (b) to develop a public engagement strategy for implementation by the Pakistan Government and third party valuators to initiate, maintain and drive public conversation related to the overall mission objective; and (c) provide open source media analysis of English, Pashtu and Urdu print and electronic media in support of the U.S. Embassy.

Relevant to Colombia, the objective for the firm was to:

(a) continue to work with the Colombian Ministry of Defense (MoD) to inform the Colombian public and the world community on the negative impact of the drug trade and the efforts of the Government of Colombia to thwart drug trafficking; (b) train Colombian MoD personnel on the proper way to interface with the media in the field; (c) presenting the MoDs message to the public; and (d) continuing to develop tactical media products to aide in CN activities.

The solicitation (#W9113M-11-C-0030) emphasized that "None of the products developed or proposed under this contract are intended for US audiences." No further information is available, as DoD did not post an award notice, contrary to federal policy, to the FedBizOpps database.

06/30/2011

The next phase of a global information-warfare campaign to influence public and media perceptions about U.S. operations in Afghanistan is unfolding, according to an updated U.S. Forces-Afghanistan (USFOR-A) planning document that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor has located.

“The information domain is a battlespace, and it is one in which USFOR-A must take aggressive actions to win the important battle of perception,” according to the project’s modified Performance Work Statement (PWS), dated June 7.

Consequently, the Dept. of Defense, via the U.S. Army Contracting Command-Rock Island unit, is enlisting the assistance of the private sector not only to monitor how the media reports on Afghanistan, but to sway the opinions of the Afghan people about their government:

USFOR-A requires the ability to develop and implement a comprehensive, self-sustaining, long term media operations capability, to include stand-alone studio and regional communication collection and distribution hubs. This initiative also addresses efforts to collect public information and interpret it to support senior leader decision making, specifically regarding the attitudes of the public and the media concerning political, social and economic issues. This initiative will allow Government representatives in USFOR-A to inform key audiences (media and civilian populations internationally and within the region) to achieve desired affects. (Emphasis added)

Among the various duties and positions that the PWS describes (and for which Strategic Social is hiring) are Afghan Linguists/Media Monitors, who would provide “a minimum of 300 media monitoring hours per week.” At least one Pashto- and one Dari-speaking linguist/monitor “should be available at all times.”

An English-speaking media monitor also would be hired for the project, for which that person will assess and summarize “international, regional, and Afghan” Internet, radio, audio, video, and print media outlets.” That position will provide at least 144 media monitoring hours per week to “supplement three media monitor military personnel” who also will perform those tasks.

The contractor also will provide a comprehensive suite of public affairs services to USFOR-A and to Afghan authorities, including the deployment of media analysts, media monitoring website/database developer and manager, the provision of social media and new media management, and advisement on how to engage in “strategic communications.” The management and maintenance of a Defense Video Information Distribution System (DVIDS) also will fall under the purview of the contractor.

This project is critical, according to the PWS, because insurgents have succeeded in undermining the credibility of USFOR-A, the international community, and Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) “through effective use of the information environment, albeit without a commensurate increase in their own credibility.”

Consequently, U.S. Forces and the GIRoA must “wrest the information initiative from the INS” in order to “maintain and strengthen the Afghan population's positive perception” of Afghan government institutions and the support that USFOR-A and the international community provide, the document says.

As a courtesy to readers and researchers, tomorrow, July 1, the Monitor will make available for download the full text of the Army's Performance Work Statement for the Public Affairs Operations-Afghanistan initiative.